My name is Val Howlett, and I worked in the publishing industry for over ten years. I was fortunate enough to work in the field of children’s literature, and all my jobs were in the realm of sales, marketing, and publicity. I also have an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where I joined a wonderful community of writers.

Throughout my adult life, I encountered many early-career authors who were eager to get their work into the hands of as many readers as possible. Often, I saw them spreading themselves too thin, trying to establish a presence on every social media platform at once or creating promotional materials that they didn’t necessarily need. 

Many writer friends approached me with their own issues as well, the main one being some form of the question “Why isn’t my publicist/marketing contact doing more for my book?” 

I always felt sympathy both for my friends and their publicists at such moments: for their publicists, because I know how much work is done behind the scenes that is invisible to authors, and the authors, because how could they know that? And how could authors know how to aid in the promotion of their book without making the work harder for their publishing house contact? This isn’t something authors are generally taught—in MFA programs or otherwise. 

In starting Little Howl Media, I had two goals. First, to provide useable book promotion assistance to authors without asking them to break the bank. Rather than offering a full publicity or publicity/marketing package, I offer several smaller services, from social media influencer pitching to consulting to help an author learn how to communicate with their publishing house. I also offer group rates that authors can go in on together. 

My second goal was to help authors be strategic with the promotional work they take on. Before I work with an author, I like to chat with them about their book and its potential audience before I recommend specific services. Together, an author and I will talk through the audiences we want to target and identify gaps in marketing to these audiences before we figure out how to fill them. My hope is that the work the author takes on after our conversation is the action most likely to get them more book sales. 

If any of that sounds useful to you, please reach out! I can’t wait to hear about your book.